What new Career or Pivot did you start in your 40s?

[Anonymous]

My aunt switched from computer programming to Counseling in her 40s. She loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My aunt switched from computer programming to Counseling in her 40s. She loves it.

do you know what she did (courses, training) to switch to counseling? I am interested and curious how long it takes to switch. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Leaving journalism before 40 was the best career decision I ever made. if i could do it again, I would have left journalism by age 35. I now work at a nonprofit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started my own business at age 50. Probably should have stayed at my day job, though. It was easier and paid more.

considering doing this, can ou share more about your experience?

Sure. It took 3 years of many 16 hour days to make a profit, and a small one at that. I'm exhausted and burned out, and being my own boss is not even a tiny bit fun anymore. Getting noticed and getting business and ranking on Google was the easy part. My product is great and sells itself, and I'm at good at selling anyway, and marketing, and pretty much anything creative. The hard part is the finance and organization part. I just really have no idea what I'm doing and can't figure out how people make a living doing this (but they do). I have a whole bunch of degrees and credentials and thought I'd be able to learn it because I'm so smart and all, but I'm failing and maybe not that smart and now wish I'd just gotten a regular job with actual benefits and guaranteed pay. Unless you are in an industry with really high profit margins and have a ton of money and business experience, I can't really recommend this route.

Can you expand on what you found difficult about “finance and organization”? I seem to be the opposite of you in that I’m very at home doing all kinds of numbers/analytics/coding/backend building but creative stuff like marketing, sales, and design I have no competency in. That’s what’s keeping me from pulling the trigger right now since those seem to be such fundamental skills for any business that relies on website traffic to generate revenue. Also what type of product do you sell if you don’t mind me asking?

Thank you so much for being willing to honestly share your experience.

[Anonymous]

I went from IT to audiologist. I did it because of personal family experience and it has been great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My aunt switched from computer programming to Counseling in her 40s. She loves it.

do you know what she did (courses, training) to switch to counseling? I am interested and curious how long it takes to switch. Thanks.

If you are interested in doing therapy, I would get a MSW and then work towards a clinical license (about 2.5 years post MSW.) There are a ton of posts on here about the MSW vs LPC vs Psychologist route for 2nd careers.

- social worker

[Anonymous]

I switched from journalism to become a mental health counselor. It was a great switch. If I were younger, I might have gotten a PhD, but this had me licensed within two and a half years.

[Anonymous]

I switched from being a lawyer to becoming a doula at 32. At 37, I had finished school and become a midwife. Not exactly my 40s, but a big pivot. Financially, it was really hard for our family during the years of being in school, but I stuck with it and I do well financially now, with the added benefit of loving my job and making a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I switched from being a lawyer to becoming a doula at 32. At 37, I had finished school and become a midwife. Not exactly my 40s, but a big pivot. Financially, it was really hard for our family during the years of being in school, but I stuck with it and I do well financially now, with the added benefit of loving my job and making a difference.

Can you share more about being a midwife- schooling, pay, work life balance? I am considering doing the same. I have 10 years of post partum doula, newborn care specialist, and night nanny experience.